NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 contenders for Rutgers transfer Paul Mulcahy
2. UCLA Bruins
The Bruins lost both of its key ball-handlers to the NBA Draft in Tyger Campbell and Amari Bailey. The team does return both Will McClendon and Dylan Andrews but neither are proven in extended minutes. The Pac-12 program also brought over a pair of international guards in Jan Vide and Ilane Fibeuil and who knows what they have to offer.
Outside of Utah guard transfer Lazar Stefanovic and returning center Adem Bona, there’s not a ton of proven production on the current roster, which still has three spots open. This creates an opportunity for Mulcahy to be the face of a blue blood program in Los Angeles, competing with Bronny James and USC miles away. And going from Coach Pikiell to Mick Cronin will be as easy a transition for a transfer as possible as well.
1. Kansas State Wildcats
For the longest time, the Wildcats only had North Texas transfer and former CUSA Player of the Year guard Tylor Perry as the lone pickup from the portal. But this past week, they were able to land Creighton transfer, Arthur Kaluma. Kansas State became a breakout program in the first year for Coach Jerome Tang, thanks to point guard, Markquis Nowell.
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I’m certainly not going to say that Mulcahy can replicate what the last season’s All-American did. But Kansas State does have a more friendly offensive system and Perry easily can play off the ball and allow the transfer in question to run the offense. It’s a situation where Mulcahy can have a large role, put up some nice numbers, and play for what should be a very good team in the Big 12 next season. This is the option that has both the least amount of red flags and highest ceiling of what’s possible.